Tornado near El Campo leaves trail of destruction on historic family farm

EL CAMPO, Texas — Thursday’s storms brought several tornadoes to Wharton County, located southwest of Houston.

Officials say three tornadoes touched down with multiple reports of damage near El Campo. No injuries have been reported.

Luckily there were no cattle in the pen when the tornado passed through the property belonging to the Strnadel family.

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“I couldn’t believe it,” Reid Strnadel said. “I mean, I’ve never seen a tornado you know? I mean hurricanes are all we really get down here.”

Reid Strnadel helps run the farm and ranch that’s been in his family for 80 years.

He says his wife was sent cell phone video from a friend Thursday afternoon that showed the tornado bearing down on his family’s land.

The tornado first blew up the first of the Strnadel family’s barns in its path and sent pieces of sheet metal and wood flying.

They say they found some of the debris deposited in their corn fields hundreds of yards away.

“It went right between this front barn and our back barn,” Strnadel said. “Right in the middle of them.”

The tornado knocked out a wall of one barn, lifted off the roof of another, even moving the boat that Reid had been storing inside.

All of this much better than what could’ve happened, though.

The tornado passed right next to the family’s home.

“It could’ve been worse,” Strnadel said. “Definitely.”